US army recovers bodies of 1952 crash victims

The US Department of Defense announced Wednesday that it had recovered and identified the bodies of 17 soldiers who went missing after a 1952 plane crash in Alaska.

On November 22, 1952, a an aircraft crashed while en route to Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, from Washington with 11 crewmen and 41 passengers on board. Adverse weather conditions precluded immediate recovery attempts.

In June 2012, a US army helicopter crew spotted the plane wreckage during a training exercise and forensic scientists have been working to identify the soldiers. The bodies of the 35 other people on board have still not been found.